Mumbai Monorail's first phase will take on commuters before Diwali: MMRDA

Slowly but steadily, the Mumbai Monorail is getting ready to open its doors to citizens before Diwali. On Saturday, sources in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) told SUNDAY MiD DAY, that the trial run between Chembur and Wadala would be completed by mid-July.

Confirming the same, an official from MMRDA closely monitoring the monorail project said, "We are happy with the progress of the phase-I of the project between Wadala and Chembur. The testing of the final stage is in progress."

The Wadala-Chembur stretch of the Monorail is almost complete. File Photo

Earlier this week, the review of the trial run was carried out during which the topic of comprehensive testing wasu00a0also discussed. The authorities will also carry out all the testing together like signalling, rolling stock, telecommunication, control room etc. In the later stage, the standalone testing that is independently done for each of the things will also be done. "By mid July and latest by this month-end we will complete all the tests successfully," added the source.

It should be noted that MMRDA has already appointed a Singapore-based SMART agency to monitor the testing process. A retired commissioner of railway safety will also inspect the testing process. Another private agency will also be appointed for safety certification of the first phase of Mumbai monorail.

The signaling and electrification work on the corridor is also in progress and stations on the entire corridor will be ready in next three-four months.

There will be seven stations in Phase-I of the nine-km monorail corridor -- Chembur, VN Purav Marg, Fertiliser Colony, Bharat Petroleum, Mysore Colony, Bhakti Park and Wadala Depot.

The construction up to the concourse levels of all stations has been completed while work on platforms is still in progress on most stations. Earlier, MMRDA had conducted the first trial run of the monorail in 2010 but it was only on a small 200-metre stretch.u00a0

Advantage monorail
Reduced traffic: Nearly 28,000 taxis and auto rickshaws and 25,000 private cars will be reducedu00a0Reduced travel time: The 40-minute commute from Chembur to Jacob Circle will be reduced to 21 minutesu00a0Less crowded: The capacity of the four cars is 12,000 per hour per directionu00a0Reduced pollution: The monorail produces less noise than cars

Did you know?
The Rs 2,700-crore Jacob Circle-Wadala-Chembur monorail project is divided into two phases - Phase I: Wadala-Chembur and Phase II: Jacob
Circle-Wadala.u00a0